Less invasive surgical procedures can reduce patient trauma, and as a result, may reduce the length of hospital stays, as well as hospital and medical costs. Endoscopic surgery provides a significant opportunity to reduce the invasiveness of numerous surgical procedures. This type of surgery involves the use of an endoscope, an instrument that permits the visual inspection and magnification of cavities within the body. Endoscopes may be flexible, semi-flexible or rigid. An endoscope may be inserted through a small surgical incision to view organ structures in a body cavity or through a natural orifice to view lumen-containing organs in the gastrointestinal, respiratory, genital and urinary tracts. Endoscopes typically have channels for irrigation, suction and the insertion of accessory instruments when a surgical procedure is performed.
During a surgical procedure, surgeons often are required to repair or reconstruct a tear or defect or otherwise approximate or fixate tissue or other material by suturing. The ability to suture through an endoscope technically is limited. In response to this problem, surgeons have sought alternatives to conventional suturing techniques that are more appropriate for use through an endoscope. Among these alternatives is the use of endoscopic clips for closing a tear in tissue.